Week in review – science edition

by Judith Curry
A few things that caught my eye this past week.

A new gem from Steve McIntyre: New post at Climate Audit on North American tree ring network of PAGES2K (2013) and PAGES (2017). Bristlecone addiction continues unabated -heroin for paleoclimatologists. [link]
Impact of urbanization on hourly precipitation in Beijing, China: Spatiotemporal patterns and causes [link]
Location of large mystery source of banned ozone depleting substance uncovered [link]
A global assessment of atoll island planform changes over the past decades [link] 
Taking the pulse of soil [link]
Evolution of 21st Century Sea-level Rise Projections [link]   
Relative sea level change in Newfoundland over the past 3000 years – new paper includes update of our global sea level curve [link]   
Aquifers in the Sahara, Arabian Peninsula, and northern India are not sustainable, according to new analysis of remote sensing data. [link]
Gulf Stream Variability in the Context of Quasi‐Decadal and Multidecadal Atlantic Climate Variability [link] 
Influence of Atmospheric Rivers on Mountain Snowpack in the Western U.S. [link]

Understanding Rapid Adjustments of climate to Diverse Forcing Agents [link]
Quantifying the importance of rapid adjustments for global precipitation changes [link]
Atlantic Water heat transport variability in the 20th century Arctic Ocean from a global ocean model and observations [link] 

Asymmetric changes of ENSO diversity modulated by the cold tongue mode under recent global warming [link]
Forests Emerge as a Major Overlooked Climate Factor [link] …
Dynamical coupling between atmospheric and oceanic circulations is fundamental to low-frequency Atlantic SST variability and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). [link]
A Wetter Arctic Coincident with Hemispheric Warming 8,000 Years Ago [link] 
New perspectives regarding Gulf Stream and Kuroshio Extension influence on the atmosphere [link 
Effect of Land Use and Land Cover Change in Context of Growth Enhancements in the U.S. since 1700: Net Source or Sink? [link]
A century of climate and land‐use change cause species turnover without loss of beta diversity in California’s Central Valley [link]
How well are clouds simulated over Greenland in climate models? Consequences for the surface cloud radiative effect over the ice sheet [link]
Retrievals of Arctic sea‐ice volume and its trend significantly affected by interannual snow variability [link] 
Asymmetric Cloud‐Shortwave Radiation‐Sea Surface Temperature Feedback of Ningaloo Niño/Niña [link]  JC note: v interesting, i have long suspected something like this.
Ocean-Atmosphere Dynamical Coupling Fundamental to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation [link]
ENSO change in climate projections: forced response or internal variability? [link]
The Ross Sea’s recent low-ice conditions let scientists learn how Antarctica’s ice sheets have responded to past climate change. [link]
Last interglacial was warmer than today and the climate was more variable – [link]  
Arctic‐wide sea ice thickness estimates from combining satellite remote sensing data and a dynamic ice‐ocean model with data assimilation during the CryoSat‐2 period [link] 
Examining the origins of ocean heat content variability in the eastern North Atlantic subpolar gyre [link]
Arctic sea ice thickness, volume, and multiyear ice coverage: losses and coupled variability (1958–2018) [link] 

Climate drivers behind the Global Famine of 1876-78 [link]

Paleoclimatological Context and Reference Level of the 2°C and 1.5°C Paris Agreement Long-Term Temperature Limits [link]
Scientists find missing piece in glacier melt predictions [link]
Decreases in global beer supply due to extreme drought and heat’ [link]
Temporal Characteristics of Cloud Radiative Effects on the Greenland Ice Sheet: Discoveries from Multi‐year Automatic Weather Station Measurements.  Stabilizing feedback [link]

Large increase in global storm runoff extremes [link]

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Social science & policy
Spain just finalized a $250M just transition deal for private sector coal miners. Compare that with the $2B they were spending to prop up the mines. [link]
Playing climate chess against the ultimate wicked problem [link]
Leading climate scientists and energy experts allege anti-nuclear bias in UN climate report [link]
To end poverty, increase access to energy [link]
Good essay on problems with Integrated Assessment Models.  What’s the damage (of that climate change cost-benefit model)? [link]
Gradual increases in soil salinity, not inundation alone, correspond to higher levels of internal migration in Bangladesh. [link]
“Economic Risks of Climate Change” which provides a detailed account of likely climate change damages in the US. Study is mainly based on econometric regression methods. [link]
Our fertilizer is killing us.  Here’s a fix [link]
China is still counting on coal to keep the lights on and keep its industrialization booming. While it has invested heavily in subsidizing solar power it realizes it cannot continue with the massive subsidies and is moving to phase them out. [link] 
Vulnerability, resilience and adaptation of societies during major extreme storms during the Little Ice Age [link 
The water system that helped the medieval city of Angkor rise may have also brought about its fall [link]
NGOs are causing african agriculture to stagnate. [link]
Explanation of 4th generation nuclear power: Next-gen nuclear is coming, if we want it [link] …
Americans’ assessments of risks of policy-relevant potential harms are pretty accurate. But in opinion on whether preventive action should be taken, risk assessments matter little; the status of the victims matter a lot [link] …
About science & scientists 
Bruno Latour Post-Truth Philosopher, Mounts a Defense of Science [link]    …
The three great untruths that are harming young Americans.  College students are being protected from uncomfortable ideas—and that’s a problem, [link]
Interesting/outrageous  lawsuit about scientific cyberbullying [link]
How Philosophy Can Reduce Your Confirmation Bias [link] …
Pielke Jr:  The case for intellectual hospitality [link]
What I learned about life at my 30th college reunion [link]

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